A few days after we started the terrace building, the village Party secretary summoned a meeting of village youth and sent-downs at short notice, saying that some officials from above were coming down for an inspection and we had to build a ¡°welcome wall¡± at the entrance of the village, the same as the wall you see in a traditional Beijing yard. The wall would be whitewashed and painted with slogans in red. Half month was the maximum time given to finish the project. The Party secretary designated the Youth League secretary Si Lijun as the responsible person for the project and gave her the Ji brothers Shoucai and Shougui, me and other two sent-downs, both male. Ling, hearing the assignment of the work, protested:¡± Secretary! Why do you leave us girl sent-downs out? Are you discriminating? It violates Mao Tsetung Thoughts!¡± I was wishing eagerly that Ling could be with us, to save the trouble of climbing those mountain slopes everyday. I said to the Party secretary: ¡°Sir, Ling is something of an artist in our school and writes nice calligraphy. She is the right person you are looking for.¡± Hearing my words, he knocked his tobacco pipe on the table and declared: ¡°OK, Ling will be with you guys, but if she messes up the slogans, she won¡¯t get her full pay!¡± ¡°Yes, Sir!,¡± Ling shouted in excitement. She was sitting beside me and her voice almost pierced my eardrum.

We assembled at the village gate the following day. The so-called village gate was but a pass between two hills, the road being just right for two horse carts to pull through. That width would surely be jeopardized by a wall built in the center. Although the Party secretary did not say the road could not be narrowed, I felt it no good to affect traffic simply because there would be an inspection. I brought up the issue to the surprised realization of Si: ¡°Isn¡¯t it so! This is the most important road of our village. We intentionally widened it five years ago with explosives. How can we make it narrow again with a wall?¡± ¡°I have an idea,¡± Ling said. ¡°Look here. It is more than a two cart width. We put the wall here in a V shape. Let the tip face outward and we put cement flag there. The slogan on the wall can be ¡®Tons of earth carried here from afar make one mu of farm field¡¯ on one side and ¡®High yield of grain is gained from the bare slates of rocks¡¯ on the other side.¡± Hearing it, Si clapped her hands and laughed: ¡°Yes yes. You did not go to high school for nothing. Really a scholar!¡±

That evening after work, I went to Ling¡¯s place, holding a bowl of corn soup. Seeing no one was around, I handed her a piece of paper and said: ¡°I wrote a poem today and here it is for your comment.¡± Ling read: ¡°Surprised was I to learn/ That there is a learned girl here/Sad am I for my lack of talents/Though I wish to be a scholar.¡± Ling blushed and squeezed something out of her teeth: ¡°Petty bourgeoisie! Want to be the hero of a confess meeting?¡±

Everything went well after we settled on the design of the wall. It went up within a week, in the center of the road like the bow of the ship of revolution. The road on either side was exactly the right size for one cart. I suggested a one-way sign, which sounded something unheard of to Si.

Then we started whitewashing. It was November and we did not have to get up early for work. When the sun had traveled one fourth of its daily course, we came to the wall one after another. ¡°Do you know that it also snowed in Beijing?¡± Dong Hui asked. He was a sent-down but did not go to the same school as Ling and I. ¡°Really?¡± Ling said, looking at the grayish sky. We had just had the first snow, a light one. ¡°Say, Doctor,¡± she turned to me. ¡°Snow is good for poetry. Won¡¯t you produce one?¡± Shougui echoed her: ¡° ye, come on! ¡®A three chi sword with wind and cloud, a bed littered with books among flowers and plants¡¯!¡± Shougui was something of an educated youth in the village and had read quite a lot despite his primary education background. That line of poem he chanted had been heard by us for God knew how many times. ¡°What the hell! I¡¯ll do it, but we must take turns. We have a poetry contest on the subject of snow today!¡± I challenged, casting a glance at Ling. I know she was good in math and science in school but her Chinese was so so, although she had a mother who taught Chinese in college.